BY ROSE ADAMS
A Coney Island souvenir
shop will shutter in the wake
of a massive rent hike at the
hands of Luna Park’s international
landlord, according to
the owner.
Dianna Carlin — who’s
owned Lola Star Souvenir
Boutique on the Coney Island
boardwalk for 19 years
— has spent months negotiating
a rent increase with the
amusement park’s landlord,
Zamperla, after the Italian corporation
demanded a 500-percent
rent hike, she claimed.
Carlin hoped to hammer
out a deal at a fi nal meeting
with Zamperla on Tuesday, but
the corporation would only allow
a 400-percent hike, which
the business owner said would
destroy her small t-shirt shop.
“At the meeting, I offered
them double the rent I was paying
previously. That is a 100-
percent rent increase and they
fl atly refused,” Carlin said.
“They did not decrease their
offer to less than the 400-percent
rent increase they have
been demanding for the past
few months…I’m heartbroken
to say that means my business
will be leaving Coney Island.”
Zamperla — the Italian
corporation that operates the
six-acre amusement district
— fi rst announced the rent increases
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facing six Riegelmann
Boardwalk businesses in November,
two months before the
tenants’ eight-year leases were
set to expire.
Five of the businesses, including
85-year-old Ruby’s
Bar and Grill and 57-year-old
Paul’s Daughter, negotiated
agreements with Zamperla by
the Dec. 31 deadline. Some insiders
say that the other tenants
received smaller rent increases
than Carlin.
“I believe the deal was fair,”
said one business owner, who
claimed he faced a 25- to 75-
percent rent hike. “I would’ve
liked to pay less, but I believe it
was a fair deal.”
Carlin, unable to pay the
400-percent hike, received two
extensions to continue working
out a rent increase with
Zamperla, but the extra time
didn’t yield any results, she
said.
“It’s heart breaking. I’ve
built a successful business
over the past 19 years. I started
it with nothing,” she said on
Tuesday. “I created a truly
unique business based on my
art products I design and hand
print in Brooklyn.”
The Bloomberg administration
awarded Zamperla a tenyear
lease in 2010 to revamp the
Coney Island amusement park
and boardwalk businesses,
which was later extended. In
2011, Zamperla tried to oust
all eight boardwalk business
— including Lola Star and Ruby’s
Bar and Grill — but kicked
out only fi ve after facing public
pressure.
Carlin and others have accused
Zamperla of unethical
business practices, such as
forcing tenants to hand over
10 percent of their sales and
to sign non-disclosure agreements.
“It’s one thing for private
landlords to have non-disclosure
agreements, but it’s another
thing when the city and
the City Council issues nondisclosure
agreements,” said
civil rights lawyer Norman
Siegal at a Dec. 5 rally at City
Hall against the rent hikes.
“What do you have to hide?”
Despite the impending closure,
Carlin — who also operates
a Lola Star store in Queens
and the Dreamland Roller
Rink in Downtown Brooklyn
— says that she plans to take
legal action against the Italian
company.
“I told them I was really hoping
to fi nd an amicable solution
before it became an ugly legal
battle but they didn’t care,”
she said on Tuesday. “I am not
leaving without a fi ght.”
Representatives from
Zamperla and the New York
City Economic Development
Corporation did not respond to
requests for comment by press
time.
PLAYTIME’S OVER
Coney Island boutique to close following massive rent hike
Diana Carlin, center, organized a rally at City Hall to protest a massive
rent hike. but the effort proved in vain after her landlord raised her rates
by 400-percent. Photo by Rose Adams
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